Outdoor Decorating With a Trellis

Even a basic trellis can be used to decorate your yard.

Functional landscaping trellises can also be fashionable accessories for your yard. You can use a trellis made from a decorative material, or the things you add to a plain wooden trellis can enhance your garden's decor. Begin to think of trellises as more than just supports for plants -- they can also be important aesthetic accents in your garden.

Country Rustic

If you have an informal garden, a rustic trellis made from branches will fit into the casual style of your yard while contributing to the overall theme. You can use bamboo canes, green branches or dry sticks to create your trellis. The natural construction of the trellis should blend into the natural look of your yard. A sturdy rustic trellis made of wood looks natural enough to remain in place during the winter months, even when the plants that grow over it have faded to brown.

Holiday Decor

A trellis in your yard can be used as a support for holiday decor like Christmas lights or garlands. This is one way to get use out of a trellis during the winter when plants that need support are not growing. "Sunset" magazine recommends making a faux holiday tree by supporting green garlands and lights on a spiral trellis. This idea can even be adapted to other holidays by hanging plastic Easter eggs from ribbons on a trellis for Easter or putting orange lights up for Halloween.

Pipework

If you have leftover copper pipe from a recent plumbing project, put it to use in your garden as a decorative trellis. The naturally bright color of copper pipe acts as an eye-catching accent in your garden, and because the pipe is designed to carry water, it will withstand the rain. "Fine Gardening" magazine offers plans for building a copper pipe trellis. If you don't have copper pipe, paint PVC pipe a metallic copper color as a substitute.

Bench Shade

A three-sided trellis can be used to provide seasonal shade over a garden bench. In the growing months when the top of the trellis is covered with vines, the bench underneath is shaded. During the winter, the sun comes through when the leaves have fallen from the vines. The three sides of the trellis are the two vertical sides with a third horizontal piece at the top. You can make one of these by tying together three trellises.